China Backtracks on Weibo Gay Censorship

As online protests continued over one of China’s top social-media platform’s decision to censor gay content, the company backtracked and will allow LGBT content. The website’s shares fell after the company’s initial decision to censor everything, including cartoons, that involve things related to the LGBT community. A large part of the reversal was because of the website’s users outrage. They used hashtags that included #ImGay and #ImGayNotaPervert.

The website will now focus on removing “…pornographic and violent material.”

According to ABC: “Regulators have been ratcheting up control over Chinese microblogs in recent months, ordering operators like Weibo to set up a mechanism to remove false information after criticizing it for allowing prohibited material to spread. It was the latest of new measures imposed by President Xi Jinping’s government to tighten control over what China’s public can see and say online while still trying to reap the economic benefits of internet use.”